Yesterday I went to see a photo student graduation group exhibition/installation held in a small old house on a back street of Urayasu. The students were from my mentor Mitsugu Ohnishi’s seminar class and are graduating from the Tokyo College of Photography, which is located in Hiyoshi, Kanagawa.
I’ve known Ohnishi sensei for over a decade now and always enjoy these annual student exhibitions he leads. His photography is always related to the people and their communities- most usually those in Eastern Tokyo, or in Urayasu’s case, East of Tokyo. Rather than teaching his students how to be disinterested documentary observers he teaches them about the towns they photograph and incorporates the community along the way. In addition to the exhibition, this tired little old house tucked in against a river and other old houses was last night the venue for an experimental slide/video/light show which was open to the community.
I’ve participated in two of similar events with Ohnishi sensei before- the first was in Urayasu in 2008, an experience that prompted the creation of Tokyo Camera Style, and again in 2010 over in Fukagawa. Come to think of it, Totem Pole did an outdoor slideshow, too.
Galleries are nice, but there’s something wonderful about the ephemeral experience of an evening outside viewing projected photographs with a group of people.